The Party

We had a nice little family party to celebrate Austin's first birthday. Even though it was a small gathering, I still wanted to decorate. I went with a typical first birthday party theme, "Route 66/Vintage Roadside Americana." You know, totally in all the birthday party catalogs.

I was really proud of the invitations I made. Too bad they never actually made it off the computer and into mailboxes. Part of the problem was that I couldn't decide which one...the back was cute too, but I'm too lazy to try and pixelate my address, so you only get to see the front. I was pretty proud of them. Oh well, at least they get to live forever on the Internet!

I totally painted the sign behind Austin's head. At approximately 11pm... the night before the party... using random tubs of sample paint I found in the garage...while watching Pitch Perfect. Again, so proud.

Thanks Sommer for the birthday banner that keeps on giving!

Chevron napkins!!!

He was so into the cake that I couldn't get any pictures with his cute smile.

Found a way to bring a version of the invitation out for the world to see!

51 Weeks

Visiting friends in San Diego

At some point this evening I'll get an email that says my baby is 51 weeks old today.

They come every Wednesday and they are always a surprise to me. I'm pretty sure I stopped keeping track around 14 weeks this time around, so they are a nice mid-week reminder.

We ran out of formula last week and decided to just make the jump to whole milk. He took to it like a champ.

We haven't totally made the switch to sippy cups, but we've started the transition and he's cool with it.

I threw away the bottle drying rack on Monday. And the bottle warmer.

He isn't walking yet, but I expect that any day now he'll decide that dropping to his knees and doing a mad crab walk across the floor is yesterday's news and that will be that.

I find myself in awe of the things he can do and then I remember how old he is.

He has some fun semi-curls around the bottom of his head and ears. It's adorable and I don't really want to cut it right away.

He's quite pretty and is often mistaken for a girl, so the hair cut may have to come sooner than I'd like.

 I think he looks a lot like me when I was a baby, but I definitely see some of Justin in there too.

Some people say he doesn't look anything like Luke and other people say, "he looks EXACTLY like Luke." I guess he just looks like Austin.

I feel like I'm still trying to figure him out. I guess I forgot what this stage is like - the in-between not a baby/not yet a 24-7, imagination-gone-wild chatterbox preschooler.

I didn't think he looked as big to me as Luke did at "1," but now that I look at these pictures I guess he does.

Whoever he turns out to be, I can't imagine our lives without Austin! He is pure joy!

 

Shell Beach near Pismo.

Santa Monica Pier

Soccer practice with big brother



(Is it possible to rotate pictures inside Blogger? This has driven me crazy for years. Years!!! Don't make me go back, edit and re-upload, Google!)

Woodies on the Wharf in Santa Cruz

Fourth of July - this is my favorite face.